Head-supporting bathing appliance



Dec. 1924- 1,517,469

- H. SMITH HEAD. SUPPORTI NG. BATHING APPLIANCE Filed Feb. 27, 1922 2SheetsShee1 1 v uvvE/vrm WITNESS .Lum'i. Smfih.

' n TTORNEY H. L. SMITH HEAD SUPPORTING BATHING APPLIANCE 2 Sheets-Sheet2 Filed Feb 27 1922 WITNESS Patented er. 2, 1924.

urine HENRY LUND SMITH, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

HEAD-SUPPORTING- BATHING APPLIANCE.

Application filed February 27, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY LUND SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Head-SupportingBathing Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bathing appliances and the like andparticularly to bouyant means for use in supporting the head in swimmingor learning to swim. The objects are to provide means which will supportthe wearers head while in the water, as by affording a rest for his chinwhen swimming back up or for the back of the head when swimming backdownor floating, without exerting any direct bouyant efiect on any otherparts of his body, which are to be left quite as free as if any meansfor assisting in swimming were not present; andto construct this meansso that it will not be an annoyance to the wearer when out of the water,but will hang down on his chest or at his back, leaving his head quitefree at that time, and yet when he is in the water and it is active insupporting his head it will be effectually retained in some definiteposition and against working around the wearers neck.

Fig. 1 shows one form of the invention in plan;

Fig. 2 is a view showing said form in plan and as it would be whenattached to the wearer;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the form shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an isometric view of another form of the invention; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the form shown in Fig. 4..

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3; a designates a bouyant member which maybe made bouyant in any way, as by being a hollow flexible bulb which maybe inflated, 04' indicating an inflating tube (omitted in Figs. 3 and5). In the best form of. my invention this mem her is quite like a flatcushion, what I term the body portion thereof, or the portion at thenear side of the line xw in Fig. 1 or Fig. 2, having greater dimensionin every hori- Zontal direction than any vertical dimension thereof; inthe form now being described at what I treat as the rear of the member(i. e., projecting rearwardly from said body Serial No. 539,656.

portion) it has two projecting horns b b which are curved inwardlytoward each other, the curvature being preferably such, in fact, asnearly to correspond to the cross section of the human neck from the tipof one horn to the tip of the other, as shown in Fig. 2, excepting thatwhen the device is applied to the neck the extremities of the hornsstand inwardly deflected so that they will exert slight pressure againstthe neck at c c.

d designates tapes which are attached to the horns and may be tiedtogether to secure the body a in a position on the wearers neck.

The object in giving the member a the flattened form is to make it havelittle vertical dimension or thickness and yet considerable bouyancy, sothat it not only will not 0ppose undue resistance to the water but whenattached to the wearer it may have free movement up and down pivotally,as between his chest and his chin, for example, bearing up against hischin and thus supporting his head when in the water and resting againsthis chest when out of the water. I find that bouyant bodies which areformed to fit the recess between the chin and the chest of the wearerwhen out of the water are a source of great discomfort at that time,besides being so bulky that when in use in the water they become anobstacle to rather than an aid in swimming. In order to keep the devicein the form now being described from working around the neck of thewearer a certain amount of friction is obtained by the horns b on thewearers neck at the points 0; on these points, moreover, the member acan move up and down pivotally as indicated by the solid and dottedlines in Fig. 3.

Referring to Figs. 4: and 5 the bouyant member a is substantially thesame as the body an already described excepting that the horns I) do notextend so far rearwardly as the horns Z) and have no provision forgripping the wearers neck as at the point a. The appliance in this formincludes a harness adapted to girdle the wearers body, the sameincluding askeleton breast-piece e having a belt portion f consisting oftwo tapes to be tied around the wearers waist and two other tapes 9 tobe passed over the wearers shoulders and tied together. On the upperpart of the breast-piece c the member a is pivoted to move up and down,as by means of the fabric hinges h.

Having thus fully described my invention What I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is: I

A head-supporting-bathing appliance comprising a bouyant memberincluding a body portion having when resting on the Water its dimensionin every horizontal direction greater than the vertical dimensionthereofl said member also including tapering horns forming horizontalextensions of said body portion and adapted to fit around the Wearersneck and means, connected to the tips of the horns, for securing theappliance to the wearer with his neck received between the horns, saidmeans ha ving flexible portions adjacent to the horns and pennittingsaid member to freely shift up and down on said portions and said memberconstituting all of the appliance that is houyant.

In testimony whereof I atiix my signature.

HENRY LUND SMITH.

